Reflective Comments

Students write short reflective comments for each module throughout the semester, summarizing their main takeaways from the materials. It should be between 100 (minimum) and 200 (maximum) words. Do not exceed 225 words.

Expected grade for a well-structured paragraph (or two):

• 97-100: Identified at least three main points unique to the material and explained why they matter.
• 95-97: Identified at least three main points unique to the material and explained why at least one matters.
• 92-94: Identified at least three main points unique to the material but did not sufficiently explain why at least one matters.
• 88-91: Identified at least one of the main points unique to the material and explained why it matters.
• 80-87: Identified at least one main point unique to the material but did not sufficiently explain why it matters.
• 65-79: Did not identify a central point unique to the material but appears to have some familiarity with its content.
• 0: No content unique to the material appears in the comment.

Note: As the course instructor, it is important to me that everyone learns from one comment to the next (that's what a class is all about)! The teaching assistant will be giving extensive comments on the comments! (On all grades not full 100s.) Anyone who does not understand the assistant's comments should let us know! If you prefer to contact the teaching assistant first and ask for clarification and guidance going forward, please do so. Or see me! My 'door' is always open online and face-to-face during office hours.

Students have the option of re-doing one comment. This re-do can be done anytime and no later than the last day of classes. Do not replace your prior submission: submit your redo in the "redo" assignment. Note that the grade of the comment re-do will supersede that essay's prior grade, whether lower or higher than that prior grade. Identify the essay you are re-doing by module number.

Tips

1. Main tip: explain your points, expressing them so that when reading them, we can confidently think, 'Yeah, the student understands the main points of the materials.'
2. How do you determine the main points of the material?
1. It is essential to grasp the material truly. If you take careful notes while reading the chapters and watching the videos, and reflect on them, you can develop a sense of what matters.
2. Think about what aspect of the materials you will likely remember five years from now.  
3. I find that the best way to grasp a chapter or video is to highlight as you read (or take notes as you watch), then read the highlights, and then list the main ones using the author's section headings. Next, try to grasp the main points of each section (there should be a reason the author makes sections).
3. Avoid listing. Instead write paragraph.
4. A well-written paragraph starts with a sentence that summarizes the main point or points of the paragraph. The body explains the topic sentence. Ideally, the writer can wrap up with a summary sentence. If there are, for instance, three main points to elaborate on, the topic sentence could be: "There are three main takeaways of the materials this week: A, B, and C. A is interesting because it follows on . . . B matters as well because it suggests . . . Regarding C . . .”
5. If space permits, use examples to illustrate your points. Analogies, too, may be helpful.
6. Write in an active prose.
7. Write clearly what you intend to express: do not simply imply things and assume the reader gets the implication. Similarly, do not merely allude to things, or use word games, slang, or jargon. Write as if your audience is from a different culture: make every sentence representative of what you mean to say. For instance, do not use catchphrases like “play the democracy card." Similarly, do not write that "X only did Y." The word "only" means something else was supposed to be done - say whatever that is. Never leave anything for the reader to guess at or interpret.

Guidelines

1. Do not bring in content from outside the course unless it is everyday common knowledge (e.g., the sky is blue).
2. The main points of the materials must be unique to the materials. We need to know you consumed it!
3. If you refer to a specific passage in the readings rather than the general thesis of it, or if you quote material, you must provide the page number (or numbers) in the reading (or, if video, the minute). When referring to a passage in a book, provide a three-word phrase in quotes so we can find the passages easily. The three-word phrase will suffice if your e-book does not have page numbers.
4. Make sure your comments are submitted through Turn-it-in. Turn-it-in will be automatic for you as long as you use the submission system as provided.

Module 3: The Nature of Our Global Order

1. How World War I Changed Everything
2. What Was the Gold Standard, and Why it Matters
3. Three Ways the U.S. Caused World War II
4. The Origins of Economic of Globalization
5. The Origins of the International Political Order

Questions to Think About

1. What are the five most crucial impacts of World War I?
2. After WWI, what changes to global order were proposed by the U.S.?
3. How did World War I lead directly to World War II?
4. What was the gold standard?
5. In what way does the gold standard depend on letting people suffer?
6. How did mindsets change on the role of government in society with WWI?
7. What is a ‘fiat’ currency?
8. In what way is a fiat currency a benefit if a trade partner stays on gold?
9. In what way is the gold standard a loss if a trade partner has a fiat currency?
10. What is the ‘beggar-thy-neighbor’ problem?
11. What is ‘collective security’?
12. What were reparations?
13. Why should the U.S. not seek a trade surplus?
14. How is the U.S. not ‘normal’?
15. In what ways might the US have unintentionally caused World War II?
16. Why did the U.S. have to support Britain in WWII?
17. What is the significance of the Atlantic Charter?
18. What is the right to self-determination?
19. In what way did global trade substantially change with WWII?
20. In what way might the Atlantic Charter explain the global decolonization of the 1950s and 1960s?
21. Why does the U.S. government subsidize cheap capital for other countries?
22. Why did the U.S. have to go on the gold standard to help Europe recover from WWII?
23. What are the world's three central international financial organizations (IFOs)?
24. How did the IFOs form?
25. Is the U.S. dollar on the gold standard today?
26. Why is the world using US dollars as reserves bad for the U.S. economy?
27. How did the universal quest for foreign direct investment after the 1970s alter the IMF's and multi-national corporations' influence over the developing world?
28. What was the ‘Washington Consensus’?
29. How might economic beliefs matter more than reality sometimes?
30. Is the world better off with or without the IMF?
31. What was the foremost goal of the U.S. during the Cold War: defeating the Soviet Union or avoiding global war?
32. In what way might the NATO alliance be rooted in the exact cause of the U.S. decision to support Britain in WWII?
33. If a country does not threaten others or ally with countries that threaten others, will the global hegemony led by the U.S. ever threaten you? Why or why not?
34. Is the U.S. more virtuous and selfless than other countries? If not, then why does it support and sometimes defend the right of self-determination of other countries?
35. To what extent is globalization—the global economic and security order—a product of American influence?